In a vehicle having an air conditioner, a radiator which cools coolant for the engine and a condenser for the air conditioner may be combined and installed in the engine compartment located behind a front grill of the vehicle. In the radiator and the condenser, a fan motor obtained by combining a fan and a motor is included to let cooling air flow. The fan motor generally includes a plastic shroud which has an opening for letting air in and a motor holding part supported by a plurality of support struts at a center portion of the opening; a compact motor which is secured to and supported at the motor holding part of the shroud; and a plastic axial-flow fan which has a hub part connected to a rotation shaft part of the motor and which has a plurality of fan blades on the outer circumference of the hub part.
Since all parts of the fan motor, including the motor, are usually installed in a high-temperature environment in the engine compartment, they may be thermally affected by the engine, serving as a heat source, and have an abnormally high temperature. This may cause deterioration in the motor properties, a reduction in life, or the like, and lead to looseness of bolts in a motor securing part and to thermal deformation or melting of a motor supporting part, when the shroud for supporting the motor is made of plastic. Therefore, countermeasures have conventionally been employed, such as improving the heat resistance of the motor itself, using a metal shroud, adding a metal heat-shield panel at the rear of the motor to shield the motor from radiation heat from the engine side, and providing a spatula-shaped air guiding panel projecting into an air flow passage to let in cooling air in the vicinity of the motor for forced-cooling (see Patent Document 1, for example).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2007-40200